


How To Spoil A Stuffed Animal (And Also Yourself)

by MizuLeKitten



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, It takes some place when they're all in the original line up, Stuffed Toys, The Paladins Get Plushies, sorta?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 15:41:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17206163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MizuLeKitten/pseuds/MizuLeKitten
Summary: Keith's been in a lot of places, but none of them were truly home. The shack had been the closest he ever had to a true home, and even that was stolen from him. Its hard to try and make a home out of his room in the Castle, knowing that at any moment he could be forced out of this place too. A stuffed companion may be the first step on the path to changing that...





	How To Spoil A Stuffed Animal (And Also Yourself)

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a long time ago and just barely found it again, so if its a little wonky that might be why (it was probably a draft 2 in my vast editing process)
> 
> I figured I'd just post it though because everyone deserves to think about Keith and stuffed animals.

Keith never had much in terms of material possessions. It was easier to keep little on his person, his knife, his clothes, and a few other necessities. He moved too often, or was scared of the inevitable move, to ever truly settle down, to indulge in the little things that he wanted to indulge in. His biggest indulgence had to have been his sketch book that a particularly determined family had gotten him (their determination didn't last too long; one too many misunderstandings would do that to anyone, and Keith had no one to blame but himself really.)

The shack had broken a lot of those rules. Keith was finally on his own, finally had his own space that he wouldn't be abandoning, that wouldn't be abandoning  _ him _ . He had put up posters, bought tons of books with his meager earnings from random jobs. If it was too hot out to get stuff done during the day when he was awake, he would read, draw, go outside and sit in the pleasant silence. If it was too cold at night, or he was stuck with the energy signal, he'd settle down and build things. He built his coffee table, a small bookshelf, and carved random things in his free time. Admittedly, his drawing was better than his carving, but over the course of the year he improved with both. He had formed a home in that shack, maybe not the best home, but a home nonetheless. It had been his.

Of course, Keith shouldn't have been as surprised when that was ripped away from him too. Granted, he'd trade a mansion, if he had one, for Shiro in a heartbeat. He hadn't expected to be in an alien spaceship, flying farther and farther away from Earth, without even a moment to look through his stuff, to grab things he had enjoyed. Once again he was stripped down to the bare essentials, his knife, his clothes, and a few pens and notepads in his fanny pack.

It hurt more than he wanted to admit. No matter what he was doing, where he was, who he was with or without, something could come in and take that from him.

It was with that reminder fresh in his mind that his room at the castle stayed bare. He knew that Lance had decorated his walls with pictures from every planet they visited, knew that Pidge's room had quickly become overrun with stuff, knew that Hunk had started collecting books of different cultures recipes and engineering feats, knew that Allura had blankets and outfits abound, knew that Coran had pictures from his past and his present, and he knew that even Shiro had begun to settle in.

The only person who hadn't was Keith.

Sure, he grabbed a rock or two, snuck a picture of all of them from Lance, but he didn't invest in books again, didn't try and find posters of all the cool things he had discovered. He left his room empty. He refused to fill a space only for it to be taken from him again.

If he thought about it for more than a passing second he'd know that he'd regressed, that he had made progress in that shack that had been snatched away from him. He wouldn't think about it though, wouldn't let himself think about it. Shiro was worth losing the shack, defending the  _ universe _ was worth more than anything that stupid shack would amount to.

Maybe that's why he was so confused when he walked into his room to find something on his bed. He drew his knife -- It was round, red and white, the perfect size to hold. He stalked closer, looking down at a familiar yet strikingly different face.

It was... Red.

Not the color, well, it was the color, but Red. His lion.

Loud knocking came from his door, and a second later it was swishing open.

"Yo, dude, did you get a stuffed lion too or-" Lance paused mid sentence as he took Keith in. "Did you- Were you going to stab it? Keith, dude, please tell me you know what a stuffed animal is."

Keith scowled, "of course I do."

"Good, then don't quiznaking stab it." Lance rolled his eyes, muttering an "honestly" under his breath that had Keith bristling. "Anyways, I'm going to go ask Hunk if he got one."

"We both did, so why wouldn't he?"

"Obviously he'd get one too, but I wanna  _ see _ it. I doubt it's better than my Blue."

Keith snorted, "Well-"

"Nope! Not hearing it, Mullet. Blue is the best and as the best deserves the best." With that Lance turned from the room, already yelling Hunk's name even though his room was down the hall.

"The best, huh?" Keith looked down at the fat plush as an idea hit him.

~*~

Keith had possessed a few plushies during his life, the one he had the longest being a hippo. That had been taken from him by a particularly strict family who had claimed that he was old enough to live without it. When he had cried they had locked him in his room. He couldn't have been older than seven.

The plush, Lance's words, and Red's own purring had seemed to spark something in Keith, a determination and desire he hadn’t felt in a long time. The next swap planet they landed on, Keith spent money buying a soft wood like substance. He then scouted the palace for tools, finding a few blankets and taking those as well.

For the first time in ages Keith sat in his room and indulged.

He built a small bed, cutting the fabric, and sewing it together with his passable sewing skills. He made a small pillow and cushions, filling it with the fluff material inside a pillow he had taken from storage. He carved a small mouse, as if the Red plush could actually play with it, and allowed himself to smile.

Red had purred approvingly in the front of his mind the whole time he had worked. They pushed him forward, and the next time they were planet side and Keith saw something he liked, something he normally would go without, Red pushed.

**_If not for you, for my mini counterpart_ ** , they seemed to say, and how could Keith deny Mini Red?

It was as if a switch had been flicked. In no time his room gained more and more stuff, all with the justification that it was for Mini Red. Keith and Red knew he wasn't fooling either of them, but it was an excuse that Red allowed him to use, lest he try to hide from himself again.

~*~

"Blue is the best and as the best deserves the best!" Lance declared as he held up his Blue plushy in their very own mini bathrobe. Everyone was in the common room, each with a corresponding plushy, minus Coran who had made them all. Keith knew that Lance was plotting something to change that fact, but with Coran present they didn't bring it up.

Instead Lance was going about proving how he took the best care for his Blue plush. With the amount of clothes sitting next to Lance, all Blue Plush sized, Keith was beginning to believe him. Allura had taken one look and pleaded to be taught so that she could do the same.

"I doubt Keith's plush has anything," Lance stuck his nose up with a smirk. It was a tease, a taunt, superficial. He could easily ignore it, or bring up how pampering a stuffed animal seemed counterproductive, but...

Without a second thought, Keith stood. He left the room, a man on a mission, leaving Mini Red in his place. If Lance wanted to play this game, fine. Keith would win.

Keith held his head high as he returned from his room, arms full with a large box. All eyes were on him, and part of him wanted to turn back time and put everything back in its place. He couldn't, and a bigger part of him was willing to share this with them.

He sat back in his spot before opening the box. He grabbed the things with care, placing them around him. He didn't look up at Lance until the very last item was taken out, and he had moved the box behind him.

"What was that?" Keith smirked as he took in Lance's open mouth gawking.

"Holy cheese, did you  _ make _ all of this?"

Keith felt his face heat up, a bit of nerves beginning to make their home in his stomach. It was a bit weird, making a bunch of furniture for a stuffed animal.

"He even made little books," Hunk cooed as he picked up a the bookshelf. It was about a foot tall, made out of a dark wood substance. Keith had spent hours folding bits of paper and binding them with random materials to make the books. It had been monotonous; it had been relaxing.

“I didn’t know you did crafts,” Shiro said, staring at the furniture. He reached forward, fingers hesitating as he looked up at Keith, “can I?”

“Yeah,” Keith nodded, “I, uh, didn’t get into it until after, uh, after the Garrison…”

Understanding flashed in Shiro’s eyes, “it's amazing, Keith.”

“It's not  _ that  _ cool,” Lance huffed. His eyes scanned over the furniture, landing on the sewed goods with a critical gaze. “Your sewing sucks.”

Keith frowned, “I know-”

“It’d be a shame for Red to have everything else, but no clothes.” Lance placed Blue in his lap, fidgeting with the sleeves on the bathrobe, “so I’ll make Red some clothes if you make Blue a bed.”

Was Lance… being nice? In his weird Lance way?

Keith smiled, “Yeah, I think that can be arranged.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me at [MizuLeKitten on Tumblr](https://mizulekitten.tumblr.com/) or [MizuLeKitten/@le_mizu on Twitter](https://twitter.com/le_mizu)


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